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HAM Glossary
It can't be helped - if you aren't a tech-wizard, and sometimes even if you are, some of the jargon used to describe HAM and its many features can be utterly confusing and cryptic. After all, some of the features are quite complex, and wouldn't make any sense to anyone except Headrock himself. This Wiki exists to explain HAM, but sometimes even reading an entire article can be confusing without understanding the language and concepts. This page contains a list of all the different JA2 and HAM concepts you might need to know, with a short explanation for each one. Feel free to add more!! JA2 General Concepts INI Setting User-control over how the game behaves. You can find a lot of these in the file \Data1.13\JA2_Options.INI. You can also edit them with the INI Editor.EXE that comes with your normal JA2 1.13 installation. APBPConstants.INI This file is in the \Data1.13\ folder. It contains a LOT of settings that change Action Point costs in the game. It's a very important tool, that allows to change ANY AP cost, and even allows changing the number of APs there are in one "full" turn, and the Breath Point (BP) loss associated with some actions. It's best not to mess with this file, unless you know exactly what you're trying to achieve... APBP Constant A single line in APBPConstants.INI. Each constant controls the AP cost of a single action or event in the game. JA2 Strategic Concepts Garrison Militia The "normal" kind of Militia, trained to defend cities. You can normally have up to 20 Garrison Militia in any City or SAM Site sector. Mobile Militia / Roaming Militia Militia that roam around the map, defending sectors and/or engaging enemies. These can only be trained once the entire City or SAM Site is already full of "Garrison" Militia. Roaming Restrictions A list of sectors where Mobile Militia can (or can't) move. You can set whether to restrict them at all, with an INI Setting. The default JA2 1.13 restrictions (when activated) allow Mobile Militia to roam tightly around the city where they were trained, but not further afield. Elite Militia "DeepBlueshirts" are the best kind of Militia money can get. Normally, Veteran Militia (LightBlueshirts) upgrade into these when they win combat. You can also train them if you enable a certain INI Setting; They're expensive though! Item Description Box This is the window that pops up when you right-click an item in your inventory (or sector inventory). It shows information about the item, and a short description. Progress A value that goes from 0 to 100, recording how far ahead in the game you are, based on your achievements. As progress rises, enemies will carry stronger weapons, and you can also buy better stuff from Bobby Ray's. Some events are triggered by reaching a certain progress level. Mine Depletion During the campaign, one of the mines will run out of ore and become abandoned. It will no longer produce income. There's no way to tell in advance which mine will run out. Arrival Sector The sector where your first merc(s) will land, at the very beginning of the game. Normally, it is Omerta A9. JA2 Combat Concepts Chance to Hit (CtH) When referring to ranged combat (guns and knives), this is the chance for the bullet to fly directly at its given target. When shooting, you might see your Chance-to-Hit as a bar above your chosen target (which is better when full) or by pressing the "F" key. Remember that even bullets flying "off course" might still hit the target (if they pass close enough), or even hit someone else standing nearby. Chance to Hit Bar A reddish bar appearing over your Targeting Cursor, showing you the Chance-to-Hit of your attack. Targeting Cursor Your mouse pointer, when you're in any firing or attacking mode. Burst/Auto Penalty Every bullet in a Burst or Autofire Volley is slightly less accurate than the last bullet. Each weapon has a different "Burst" or "Auto" penalty, if it even has these firing modes at all. You can use Bipods to reduce the penalty, and the AUTO WEAPONS skill also helps. In vanilla JA2 1.13, Tracer Magazines also decrease the penalty. Autofire Volley A single attack in Autofire mode. It doesn't matter how many bullets are actually fired. Autofire Bullets per 5 APs This is a property of any weapon with an Autofire mode. It determines how quickly the weapon can fire in this mode, beyond the first bullet. The higher it is, the more bullets you can fire using less APs. Goggle Switch (Swap) An automated system that replaces the type of goggles you are wearing, with a different type of goggles found in your inventory (or on your helmet). Use SHIFT-N to do this. It generally switches from Sun Goggles to Night Vision Goggles and vice-versa. It does so for your entire squad. Reinforcements Enemies/Militia that arrive from nearby sectors to help in a battle. They appear along the map's edge. Critical Damage Successful attacks have a certain chance to be "critical". Critical hits do more damage, and can also cause a permanent reduction in one of your stats. Successful headshots are very likely to be critical. Also, critical hits to the legs cause the character to fall down. Aiming Limits In Single-Shot mode, this is the number of times you can right-click to increase your aim. In vanilla JA2, all weapons are restricted to 4 clicks. In 1.13, you can activate a setting that allows 6 and even 8 clicks, for weapons with a good scope installed. HAM Concepts HAM Suppression A new system that allows neutralizing enemies (or reducing their combat ability) by firing large quantities of ammunition at them. This sucks out their APs and can cause them to become completely immobile for a whole turn, aside from other negative effects. Suppression Fire has a LOT of effect on gameplay. And yes, enemies use suppression fire too. Suppression Shock The fear of being shot. This is a powerful effect of suppression fire, that amongst other things reduces the target's accuracy so it can't aim at you. It also makes the target harder to hit. Explosive Suppression A HAM feature that allows causing Suppression to enemies through the use of blast explosives (like Hand Grenades, Stun Grenades, Flashbangs, TNT, etc.). Cowering The state where a character has received so much Suppression Shock, that he is now more vulnerable to suppression fire than before. Experienced characters are better at avoiding this state. You get an on-screen message when this occurs. Pinned Down A character who's had his entire AP supply sucked out by enemy suppression fire. He/she has lost their entire next turn! You will receive an on-screen message when this occurs, along with a flashing radio locator over the pinned character. Dynamic Roaming Restrictions / Dynamic Mobile Militia A system that "unlocks" sectors for Mobile Militia movement, based on which cities you've liberated. Makes sure that Militia doesn't travel too far (and starts eliminating enemy resistance all over the map) but still allows them to patrol along the roads and control important strategic locations. HAM Tracers A realistic system that mimics the behavior of Tracer Fire in real life. The more tracers you fire in a single Autofire volley, the more accurate your volley gets. Tracers are used to "guide" your bullets into the target at a range. Facility Any feature specific to the sector you're in, which gives bonuses or penalties. For instance, in JA2 1.13 the Gun Range in Alma increases the speed of training your Marksmanship score. HAM provides many different facilities in many different sectors on the map. Hidden Bullet Count A system that prevents mercs from knowing how many bullets are left in their guns. Only takes effect during combat. Experienced mercs can make a rough guess, while elite mercs can avoid the problem altogether (they remember exactly how many bullets they've fired). Advanced HAM Concepts DynamicRestrictions.XML A new XML file located in the \Data-1.13\TableData\Map\ folder. It controls the conditions under which sectors become "unlocked" for militia roaming, when you liberate certain cities. FacilityTypes.XML A new XML file located in the \Data-1.13\TableData\Map\ folder. It defines all the different facilities possible in the game and their effects. Facilities.XML A new XML file located in the \Data-1.13\TableData\Map\ folder. It tells the game where to put each facility.